The collective geographical area of all reservations is 56,200,000 acres (22,700,000 ha; 87,800 sq mi; 227,000 km2),[1] approximately the size of Idaho. While most reservations are small compared to U.S. states, there are 12 Indian reservations larger than the state of Rhode Island. The largest reservation, the Navajo Nation Reservation, is similar in size to West Virginia. Reservations are unevenly distributed throughout the country; the majority are west of the Mississippi River and occupy lands that were first reserved by treaty or "granted" from the public domain.[6]

Because tribes possess the concept of tribal sovereignty, even though it is limited, laws on tribal lands vary from those of the surrounding area.[7] These laws can permit legal casinos on reservations, for example, which attract tourists. The tribal council, not the local government or the United States federal government, often has jurisdiction over reservations. Different reservations have different systems of government, which may or may not replicate the forms of government found outside the reservation. Most Native American reservations were established by the federal government; a limited number, mainly in the East, owe their origin to state recognition.[8]

The name "reservation" comes from the conception of the Native American tribes as independent sovereigns at the time the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Thus, the early peace treaties (often signed under duress) in which Native American tribes surrendered large portions of land to the U.S. also designated parcels which the tribes, as sovereigns, "reserved" to themselves, and those parcels came to be called "reservations".[9] The term remained in use even after the federal government began to forcibly relocate tribes to parcels of land to which they had no historical connection.

Today a majority of Native Americans and Alaska Natives live somewhere other than the reservations, often in larger western cities such as Phoenix and Los Angeles.[10][11] In 2012, there were over 2.5 million Native Americans, with about 1 million living on reservations.[12]

From the beginning of the European colonization of the Americas, Europeans often removed native peoples from lands they wished to occupy. The means varied, including treaties made under considerable duress, forceful ejection, and violence, and in a few cases voluntary moves based on mutual agreement. The removal caused many problems such as tribes losing means of livelihood by being subjected to a defined area, farmers having inadmissible land for agriculture, and hostility between tribes.[13]

In 1764 the "Plan for the Future Management of Indian Affairs" was proposed by the Board of Trade.[17] Although never adopted formally, the plan established the imperial government's expectation that land would only be bought by colonial governments, not individuals, and that land would only be purchased at public meetings.[17] Additionally, this plan dictated that the Indians would be properly consulted when ascertaining and defining the boundaries of colonial settlement.[17]

The private contracts that once characterized the sale of Indian land to various individuals and groups—from farmers to towns—were replaced by treaties between sovereigns.[17] This protocol was adopted by the United States Government after the American Revolution.[17]

Letters from the Presidents of the United States of America on indigenous reservations (1825–1837)[edit]

The document “Indian Treaties, and Laws and Regulations Relating to Indian Affairs”’ published in 1825 in Washington City, America was signed by [19] president Andrew Jackson. He states that “we have placed the land reserves in a better state for the benefit of society” with approval of Indigenous reservations prior to 1850.[20] The letter is signed by Isaac Shelby and the American President and discusses several regulations regarding Indigenous people of America and the approval of Indigenous segregation and the reservation system.

President Martin Van Buren writes a Treaty with the Saginaw Tribe of Chippewas in 1837 to build a light house. The President of the United States of America was directly involved in the creation of new Treaties regarding Indian Reservations before 1850. He says Indigenous Reservations are “all their reserves of land in the state of Michigan, on the principle of said reserves being sold at the public land offices for their benefit and the actual proceeds being paid to them.”[21] The agreement is for the Indigenous Tribe to sell their land, based on a Reservation to build a “lighthouse.”[21] President, Martin Van Buren wants to buy Indigenous Reservation Land to build infrastructure.

A Treaty signed by John Forsyth, the Secretary of State on behalf of, President Martin Van Buren of the United States of America also dictates where Indigenous peoples must live in terms of the reservation system in America between the Oneida People in 1838. This Treaty allows the Indigenous peoples five years on a specific reserve “the west shores of Saganaw bay.”[22] The creation of reservations for Indigenous people of America could be as little as a five-year approval before 1850. Article two of the Treaty claims “the reserves on the river Angrais and at Rifle river, of which said Indians are to have the usufruct and occupancy for five years.” Indigenous people had restraints pushed on them by the five year allowance.

Scholarly author Buck Woodard uses executive papers from Governor William H. Cabell in his article, “Indian Land sales and allotment in Antebellum Virginia” to discuss Indigenous reservations in America before 1705 specifically in Virginia.[23] He claims “the colonial government again recognized the Nottoway’s land rights by treaty in 1713, at the conclusion of the Tuscaro War.”[23] The Indigenous peoples of America had Land Treaty agreements as early as 1713.[23]

The beginning of the Indigenous Reservation System in America (1763–1834)[edit]

The American Indigenous Reservation system started with “the Royal Proclamation of 1763, where Great Britain set aside an enormous resource for Indians in the territory of the presently United States.”[24] Another act put forward by America was when “Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830.”[25] A third act pushed through was “the federal government relocated “portions of [the] ‘Five Civilized Tribes’ from the southeastern states in the Non-Intercourse Act of 1834.”[26] The Indigenous Reservation system in the United States of America began in 1763 with the Royal Proclamation set by Great Britain, the “Indian Removal Act of 1830” and the “Non-Intercourse act of 1834” which all came into play in the forceful removal of Indigenous peoples into specific land Reservations.[25]

Scholarly author James Oberly discusses “The Treaty of 1831 between the Menominee Nation and the United States”[27] in his article, “Decision on Duck Creek: Two Green Bay Reservations and Their Boundaries, 1816–1996.” Another Treaty regarding Indigenous Reservations before 1850. There is a conflict between the Menomee Nation and the State of Wisconsin and “the 1831 Menomee Treaty … ran the boundary between the lands of the Oneida, known in the Treaty as the “New York Indians.”[27] This Treaty from 1831 is the cause of conflicts and is disputed because the land used to be good hunting grounds, but not anymore.

The Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834 says “In the 1834 Indian Trade and Intercourse Act, the United States defined the boundaries of Indian County.”[28] Also, “For Unrau, Indigenous Country is less on Indigenous homeland and more a place where the U.S. removed Indians from east of the Mississippi River and applied unique laws.”[28] The United States of America applied laws on Indigenous Reservations depending on where they were located like the Mississippi River. This act came too, because “the federal government began to compress Indigenous lands because it needed to send troops to Texas during the Mexican-American War and protect American immigration travelling to Oregon and California.” [29] The Federal Government of America had their own needs and desires for Indigenous Land Reservations. He says, “the reconnaissance of explorers and other American officials understood that Indigenous Country possessed good land, bountiful game, and potential mineral resources.”[29] The American Government claimed Indigenous land for their own benefits with these creations of Indigenous Land Reservations .

States such as Texas had their own policy when it came to Indian Reservations in America before 1850. Scholarly author, George D. Harmon discusses Texas’ own reservation system which “Prior to 1845, Texas had inaugurated and pursued her own Indian Policy of the U.S.”[30] Texas was one of the States before 1850 that chose to create their own reservation system as seen in Harmon's article, “The United States Indian Policy in Texas, 1845–1860.”[31] The State of “Texas had given only a few hundred acres of land in 1840, for the purpose of colonization”.[30] However, “In March, 1847, … [a] special agent [was sent] to Texas to manage the Indian affairs in the State until Congress should take some definite and final action.”[32] The United States of America allowed its states to make up their own treaties such as this one in Texas for the purpose of colonization.

The passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 marked the systematization of a U.S. federal government policy of forcibly moving Native populations away from European-populated areas.

One example was the Five Civilized Tribes, who were removed from their native lands in the southern United States and moved to modern-day Oklahoma, in a mass migration that came to be known as the Trail of Tears. Some of the lands these tribes were given to inhabit following the removals eventually became Indian reservations.

In 1851, the United States Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which authorized the creation of Indian reservations in modern-day Oklahoma. Relations between settlers and natives had grown increasingly worse as the settlers encroached on territory and natural resources in the West.[33]

Most Indian reservations, like the Laguna Indian reservation in New Mexico (pictured here in 1943), are in the western United States, often in regions suitable more for ranching than farming.

In 1868, President Ulysses S. Grant pursued a "Peace Policy" as an attempt to avoid violence.[34] The policy included a reorganization of the Indian Service, with the goal of relocating various tribes from their ancestral homes to parcels of lands established specifically for their inhabitation. The policy called for the replacement of government officials by religious men, nominated by churches, to oversee the Indian agencies on reservations in order to teach Christianity to the native tribes. The Quakers were especially active in this policy on reservations.[35]

The policy was controversial from the start. Reservations were generally established by executive order. In many cases, white settlers objected to the size of land parcels, which were subsequently reduced. A report submitted to Congress in 1868 found widespread corruption among the federal Native American agencies and generally poor conditions among the relocated tribes.

Many tribes ignored the relocation orders at first and were forced onto their limited land parcels. Enforcement of the policy required the United States Army to restrict the movements of various tribes. The pursuit of tribes in order to force them back onto reservations led to a number wars with Native Americans which included some massacres. The most well-known conflict was the Sioux War on the northern Great Plains, between 1876 and 1881, which included the Battle of Little Bighorn. Other famous wars in this regard included the Nez Perce War.

By the late 1870s, the policy established by President Grant was regarded as a failure, primarily because it had resulted in some of the bloodiest wars between Native Americans and the United States. By 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes began phasing out the policy, and by 1882 all religious organizations had relinquished their authority to the federal Indian agency.

In 1887, Congress undertook a significant change in reservation policy by the passage of the Dawes Act, or General Allotment (Severalty) Act. The act ended the general policy of granting land parcels to tribes as-a-whole by granting small parcels of land to individual tribe members. In some cases, for example, the Umatilla Indian Reservation, after the individual parcels were granted out of reservation land, the reservation area was reduced by giving the "excess land" to white settlers. The individual allotment policy continued until 1934 when it was terminated by the Indian Reorganization Act.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, also known as the Howard-Wheeler Act, was sometimes called the Indian New Deal and was initiated by John Collier. It laid out new rights for Native Americans, reversed some of the earlier privatization of their common holdings, and encouraged tribal sovereignty and land management by tribes. The act slowed the assignment of tribal lands to individual members and reduced the assignment of "extra" holdings to nonmembers.

For the following 20 years, the U.S. government invested in infrastructure, health care, and education on the reservations. Likewise, over two million acres (8,000 km²) of land were returned to various tribes. Within a decade of Collier's retirement the government's position began to swing in the opposite direction. The new Indian Commissioners Myers and Emmons introduced the idea of the "withdrawal program" or "termination", which sought to end the government's responsibility and involvement with Indians and to force their assimilation.

The Indians would lose their lands but were to be compensated, although many were not. Even though discontent and social rejection killed the idea before it was fully implemented, five tribes were terminated—the Coushatta, Ute, Paiute, Menominee and Klamath—and 114 groups in California lost their federal recognition as tribes. Many individuals were also relocated to cities, but one-third returned to their tribal reservations in the decades that followed.

With the establishment of reservations, tribal territories diminished to a fraction of original areas and indigenous customary practices of land tenure sustained only for a time, and not in every instance. Instead, the federal government established regulations that subordinated tribes to the authority, first, of the military, and then of the Bureau (Office) of Indian Affairs.[36] Under federal law, the government patented reservations to tribes, which became legal entities that at later times have operated in a corporate manner. Tribal tenure identifies jurisdiction over land-use planning and zoning, negotiating (with the close participation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs) leases for timber harvesting and mining.[37]

Tribes generally have authority over other forms of economic development such as ranching, agriculture, tourism, and casinos. Tribes hire both members, other Indians and non-Indians in varying capacities; they may run tribal stores, gas stations, and develop museums (e.g., there is a gas station and general store at Fort Hall Indian Reservation, Idaho, and a museum at Foxwoods, on the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation in Connecticut).[37]

Tribal members may utilize a number of resources held in tribal tenures such as grazing range and some cultivable lands. They may also construct homes on tribally held lands. As such, members are tenants-in-common, which may be likened to communal tenure. Even if some of this pattern emanates from pre-reservation tribal custom, generally the tribe has the authority to modify tenant in-common practices.

With the General Allotment Act (Dawes), 1887, the government sought to individualize tribal lands by authorizing allotments held in individual tenure.[38] Generally, the allocation process led to grouping family holdings and, in some cases, this sustained pre-reservation clan or other patterns. There had been a few allotment programs ahead of the Dawes Act. However, the vast fragmentation of reservations occurred from the enactment of this act up to 1934, when the Indian Reorganization Act was passed. However, Congress authorized some allotment programs in the ensuing years, such as on the Palm Springs/Agua Caliente Indian Reservation in California.[39]

Allotment set in motion a number of circumstances:

individuals could sell (alienate) the allotment – under the Dawes Act, it was not to happen until after twenty-five years.

individual allottees who would die intestate would encumber the land under prevailing state devisement laws, leading to complex patterns of heirship. Congress has attempted to mollify the impact of heirship by granting tribes the capacity to acquire fragmented allotments owing to heirship by financial grants. Tribes may also include such parcels in long-range land use planning.

With alienation to non-Indians, their increased presence on numerous reservations has changed the demography of Indian Country. One of many implications of this fact is that tribes can not always effectively embrace the total management of a reservation, for non-Indian owners and users of allotted lands contend that tribes have no authority over lands that fall within the tax and law-and-order jurisdiction of local government.[40]

The demographic factor, coupled with landownership data, led, for example, to litigation between the Devils Lake Sioux and the State of North Dakota, where non-Indians owned more acreage than tribal members even though more Native Americans resided on the reservation than non-Indians. The court decision turned, in part, on the perception of Indian character, contending that the tribe did not have jurisdiction over the alienated allotments. In a number of instances—e.g., the Yakama Indian Reservation—tribes have identified open and closed areas within reservations. One finds the majority of non-Indian landownership and residence in the open areas and, contrariwise, closed areas represent exclusive tribal residence and related conditions.[41]

Indian Country today consists of tripartite government—i. e., federal, state and/or local, and tribal. Where state and local governments may exert some, but limited, law-and-order authority, tribal sovereignty is diminished. This situation prevails in connection with Indian gaming because federal legislation makes the state a party to any contractual or statutory agreement.[42]

Finally, other-occupancy on reservations may be by virtue of tribal or individual tenure. There are many churches on reservations; most would occupy tribal land by consent of the federal government or the tribe. BIA agency offices, hospitals, schools, and other facilities usually occupy residual federal parcels within reservations. Many reservations include one or more sections (about 640 acres) of school lands, but those lands typically remain part of the reservation (e.g., Enabling Act of 1910 at Section 20[43]). As a general practice, such lands may sit idle or be grazed by tribal ranchers.

When the Europeans discovered the "New World" in the fifteenth century, the land that was new to them had been home to Native Peoples for thousands of years. The American colonial government determined a precedent of establishing the land sovereignty of North America through treaties between countries. This precedent was upheld by the United States government. As a result, most Native American land was "purchased" by the United States government, a portion of which was designated to remain under Native sovereignty. The United States government and Native Peoples do not always agree on how land should be governed, which has resulted in a series of disputes over sovereignty.

The Federal Government and The Lakota Sioux tribe members have been involved in sorting out a legal claim for the Black Hills since signing the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty,[44] which created what is known today as the Great Sioux Nation covering the Black Hills and nearly half of western South Dakota.[44] This treaty was acknowledged and respected until 1874, when General George Custer discovered gold,[44] sending a wave of settlers into the area and leading to the realization of the value of the land from United States President Grant.[44] President Grant used tactical military force to remove the Sioux from the land and assisted in the development of the Congressional appropriations bill for Indian Services in 1876, a "starve or sell" treaty signed by only 10% of the 75% tribal men required based on specifications from the Fort Laramie Treaty that relinquished the Sioux's rights to the Black Hills.[44] Following this treaty, the Agreement of 1877 was passed by Congress to remove the Sioux from the Black Hills, stating that the land was purchased from the Sioux despite the insufficient number of signatures,[44] the lack of transaction records, and the tribe's claim that the land was never for sale.[45]

The Black Hills are sacred to the Sioux as a place central to their spirituality and identity,[44] and contest of ownership of the land has been pressured in the courts by the Sioux Nation since they were allowed legal avenue in 1920.[44] Beginning in 1923, the Sioux made legal claim that their relinquishment from the Black Hills was illegal under the Fifth Amendment, and no amount of money can make up for the loss of their sacred land.[44] This claim went all the way up to the Supreme Court United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians case in 1979 after being revived by Congress, and the Sioux were awarded over $100 million as they ruled that the seizure of the Black Hills was in fact illegal. The Sioux have continually rejected the money, and since then the award has been accruing interest in trust accounts, and amounts to about $1 billion in 2015.[45]

During President Barack Obama's campaign he made indications that the case of the Black Hills was going to be solved with innovate solutions and consultation,[45] but this was questioned when White House Counsel Leonard Garment sent a note to The Ogala people saying, "The days of treaty making with the American Indians ended in 1871; ...only Congress can rescind or change in any way statutes enacted since 1871." [44] The He Sapa Reparations Alliance [45] was established after Obama's inauguration to educate the Sioux people and propose a bill to Congress that would allocate 1.3 million acres of federal land within the Black Hills to the tribe. To this day, the dispute of the Black Hills is ongoing with the trust estimated to be worth nearly $1.3 billion[46] and sources believe principles of restorative justice [44] may be the best solution to addressing this century old dispute.

While the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, addressed land sovereignty disputes between the British Crown and the colonies, it neglected to settle hostilities between indigenous people—specifically those who fought on the side of the British, as four of the members of the Haudenosaunee did—and colonists.[47] In October 1784 the newly formed United States government facilitated negotiations with representatives from the Six Nations in Fort Stanwix, New York.[47] The treaty produced in 1784 resulted in Indians giving up their territory within the Ohio River Valley and the U.S. guaranteeing the Haudenosaunee six million acres— about half of what is present day New York— as permanent homelands.[47]

Unenthusiastic about the treaty's conditions, the state of New York secured a series of twenty-six "leases", many of them lasting 999 years on all native territories within its boundaries.[47] Led to believe that they had already lost their land to the New York Genesee Company, the Haudenosaunee agreed to land leasing which was presented by New York Governor George Clinton as a means by which the indigenous could maintain sovereignty over their land.[47] On 28 August 1788, the Oneidas leased five million acres to the state in exchange for $2,000 in cash, $2,000 in clothing, $1,000 in provisions and $600 annual rent. The other two tribes followed with similar arrangements.[47]

The Holland Land Company gained control over all but ten acres of the native land leased to the state on 15 September 1797.[47] These 397 square miles were subsequently parceled out and subleased to whites, allegedly ending the native title to land. Despite Iroquois protests, federal authorities did virtually nothing to correct the injustice.[47] Certain of losing all of their land, in 1831 most of the Oneidas asked that what was left of their holdings be exchanged for 500,000 acres purchased from the Menominees in Wisconsin.[47] President Andrew Jackson, committed to Indian Removal west of the Mississippi, agreed.[47]

The Treaty of Buffalo Creek, signed on 15 January 1838, directly ceded 102,069 acres of Seneca land to the Ogden company for $202,000, a sum that was divided evenly between the government— to hold in trust for Indians— and non-Indian individuals who wanted to buy and improve the plots.[47] All that was left of the Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga and Tuscarora holding was extinguished at a total cost of $400,000 to Ogden.[47]

After Indian complaints, a second Treaty of Buffalo was written in 1842 in attempts to mediate tension.[47] Under this treaty the Haudenosaunee were given the right to reside in New York and small areas of reservations were restored by the U.S. government.[47]

These agreements were largely ineffective in protecting Native American land. By 1889 eighty percent of all Iroquois reservation land in New York was leased by non-Haudenosaunees.[47]

The modern-day Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations are located in Northern Arizona, near the Four Corners area. The Hopi reservation is 2,531.773 square miles within Arizona and lies surrounded by the greater Navajo reservation which spans 27,413 square miles and extends slightly into the states of New Mexico and Utah. The Hopi, also known as the Pueblo people, made many spiritually motivated migrations throughout the Southwest before settling in present-day Northern Arizona.[48] The Navajo people also migrated throughout western North America following spiritual commands before settling near the Grand Canyon area. The two tribes peacefully coexisted and even traded and exchanged ideas with each other; However, their way of lives were threatened when the "New people", what the Navajo called white settlers,[49] began executing Natives across the continent and claiming their land, as a result of Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act. War ensued between the Navajo people, who call themselves the Diné, and new Americans. The end result was the Long Walk in the early 1860s in which the entire tribe was forced to walk roughly 400 miles from Fort Canby (present day Window Rock, Arizona) to Bosque Redondo in New Mexico. This march is similar to the well known Cherokee "Trail of Tears" and like it, many tribe did not survive the trek. The roughly 11,000 tribe members were imprisoned here in what the United States government deemed an experimental Indian reservation that failed because it became too expensive, there were too many people to feed, and they were continuously raided by other native tribes.[50] Consequently, in 1868, the Navajo were allowed to return to their homeland after signing the Treaty of Bosque Redondo. The treaty officially established the "Navajo Indian Reservation" in Northern Arizona. The term reservation is one which creates territorialities or claims on places. This treaty gave them the right to the land and semi-autonomous governance of it. The Hopi reservation, on the other hand, was created through an executive order by President Arthur in 1882.

A few years after the two reservations were established, the Dawes Allotment Act was passed under which communal tribal land was divvied up and allocated to each household in attempt to enforce European-American farming styles where each family owns and works their own plot of land. This was a further act of enclosure by the US government. Each family received 640 acres or less and the remaining land was deemed "surplus" because it was more than the tribes needed. This "surplus" land was then made available for purchase by American citizens.

The land designated to the Navajo and Hopi reservation was originally considered barren and unproductive by white settlers until 1921 when prospectors scoured the land for oil. The mining companies pressured the US government to set up Native American councils on the reservations so that they could agree to contracts, specifically leases, in the name of the tribe.[51]

During World War II, uranium was mined from their land as well though the companies and government neglected to inform the people of the dangers of radiation exposure. Some people had even built their houses out of mine waste. The companies also failed to properly dispose of the radioactive waste which did and will continue to pollute the environment, including the natives' water sources. Many years later, these same men who worked the mines died from lung cancer and their families received no form of financial compensation.

In 1979, the Church Rock uranium mill spill was the largest release of radioactive waste in US history. The spill contaminated the Puerco River with 1,000 tons of solid radioactive waste and 93 million gallons of acidic, radioactive tailings solution which flowed downstream into the Navajo Nation. The Navajos used the water from this river for irrigation and their livestock but were not immediately informed about the contamination and its danger.[52]

After the war ended, the American population boomed and energy demands soared. The utility companies needed a new source of power so they began the construction of coal-fired power plants. They placed these power plants in the four corners region. In the 1960s, John Boyden, an attorney working for both Peabody Coal and the Hopi tribe, the nation's largest coal producer, managed to gain rights to the Hopi land, including Black Mesa, a sacred location to both tribes which lay partially within the Joint Use Area of both tribes.

This case is an example of environmental racism and injustice, per the principles established by the Participants of the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit,[53] because the Navajo and Hopi people, which are communities of color, low income, and political alienation, were disproportionately affected by the proximity and resulting pollution of these power plants which disregard their right to clean air, their land was degraded, and because the related public policies are not based on mutual respect of all people.

The mining companies wanted more land but the joint ownership of the land made negotiations difficult. At the same time, Hopi and Navajo tribes were squabbling over land rights while Navajo livestock continuously grazed on Hopi land. Boyden took advantage of this situation, presenting it to the House Subcommittee on Indian Affairs claiming that if the government did not step in and do something, a bloody war would ensue between the tribes. Congressmen agreed to pass the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974 which forced any Hopi and Navajo people living on the other's land to relocate. This affected 6,000 Navajo people and ultimately benefitted coal companies the most who could now more easily access the disputed land. Instead of using military violence to deal with those who refused to move, the government passed what became known as the Bennett Freeze to encourage the people to leave. The Bennett Freeze banned 1.5 million acres of Navajo land from any type of development, including paving roadways and even roof repair. This was meant to be a temporary incentive to push tribe negotiations but lasted over forty years until 2009 when President Obama lifted the moratorium.[54] Still, the legacy of the Bennett Freeze looms over the region as seen by the nearly third world conditions on the reservation – seventy-five per cent of people do not have access to electricity and housing situations are poor.

It is a common conception that environmentalism and a connectedness to nature is ingrained in the Native American culture. In recent years, cultural historians have set out to reconstruct this notion as what they claim to be a culturally inaccurate romanticism.[57] Others recognize the differences between the attitudes and perspectives that emerge from a comparison of Western European philosophy and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of Indigenous peoples, especially when considering natural resource conflicts and management strategies involving multiple parties.[58]

In 1979, the Seminole tribe in Florida opened a high-stakes bingo operation on its reservation in Florida. The state attempted to close the operation down but was stopped in the courts. In the 1980s, the case of California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians established the right of reservations to operate other forms of gambling operations. In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which recognized the right of Native American tribes to establish gambling and gaming facilities on their reservations as long as the states in which they are located have some form of legalized gambling.

Today, many Native American casinos are used as tourist attractions, including as the basis for hotel and conference facilities, to draw visitors and revenue to reservations. Successful gaming operations on some reservations have greatly increased the economic wealth of some tribes, enabling their investment to improve infrastructure, education and health for their people.

Tribal courts were limited to sentences of one year or less,[60] until on 29 July 2010, the Tribal Law and Order Act was enacted which in some measure reforms the system permitting tribal courts to impose sentences of up to three years provided proceedings are recorded and additional rights are extended to defendants.[61][62] The Justice Department on 11 January 2010, initiated the Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative which recognizes problems with law enforcement on Indian reservations and assigns top priority to solving existing problems.

The Department of Justice recognizes the unique legal relationship that the United States has with federally recognized tribes. As one aspect of this relationship, in much of Indian Country, the Justice Department alone has the authority to seek a conviction that carries an appropriate potential sentence when a serious crime has been committed. Our role as the primary prosecutor of serious crimes makes our responsibility to citizens in Indian Country unique and mandatory. Accordingly, public safety in tribal communities is a top priority for the Department of Justice.

Passed in 1953, Public Law 280 (PL 280) gave jurisdiction over criminal offenses involving Indians in Indian Country to certain States and allowed other States to assume jurisdiction. Subsequent legislation allowed States to retrocede jurisdiction, which has occurred in some areas. Some PL 280 reservations have experienced jurisdictional confusion, tribal discontent, and litigation, compounded by the lack of data on crime rates and law enforcement response.[64]

As of 2012, a high incidence of rape continued to impact Native American women.[65]

A survey of death certificates over a four-year period showed that deaths among Indians due to alcohol are about four times as common as in the general US population and are often due to traffic collisions and liver disease with homicide, suicide, and falls also contributing. Deaths due to alcohol among American Indians are more common in men and among Northern Plains Indians. Alaska Natives showed the least incidence of death.[66] Under federal law, alcohol sales are prohibited on Indian reservations unless the tribal councils choose to allow it.[67]

Gang violence has become a major social problem.[68] A 13 December 2009, The New York Times article about growing gang violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation estimated that there were 39 gangs with 5,000 members on that reservation alone.[69] As opposed to traditional "Most Wanted" lists, Native Americans are often placed on regional Crime Stoppers lists offering rewards for their whereabouts.[70]

Native American Tribes have recently started to become considered federally recognized tribes that are capable of exercising rights of self-governance. These exercises include but are not limited to the ability to pass laws, regulate power and energy, create treaties, and have tribal court hearings.[71] In many ways Tribal governments are considered to be very much like State or Federal governments, but in the tribal system they are considered a sovereign government much like California or Canada where they are seen to be self-governing and have little to no connection to the State and Federal Governments.[72]

^ abKephart, Bill & Mary. "The Kepharts: Cohawkin, Raccoon Creek, Narraticon all names left by Lenni-Lenape in Gloucester County". NJ.com. Retrieved 12 July 2018. In 1758, the Colonial Legislature purchased land in Burlington County for a reservation. It was the first Indian Reservation in America and was called Edgepelick. Governor Bernard called it Brotherton. Today the area is known as Indian Mills. In 1801, an act was passed directing the sale of Brotherton, with the proceeds used to send the remaining Lenni-Lenape to the Stockbridge Reservation near Oneida, N.Y. There they formed a settlement called Statesburg. 7 November 2010

^Belko, William S. (2004). "John C. Calhoun and the Creation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs: an Essay on Political Rivalry, Ideology, and Policymaking in the Early Republic". South Carolina Historical Magazine. 105 (3): 170–197. JSTOR27570693.

^Andrew Jackson, “A letter by Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, Indian Treaties and Laws and Regulations Relating to Indian Affairs: To Which Is Added, An Appendix. Way and Gideon, Printers,” 1826.

^Andrew Jackson, “A letter by Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, Indian Treaties and Laws and Regulations Relating to Indian Affairs: To Which Is Added, An Appendix. Way and Gideon, Printers,” 1826, 580.

^ abMartin Van Buren, President of the United States of America, ”Treaties between the United States and the Saginaw tribe of Chippewas,” 1837.

^John Forsyth, the Secretary of State On behalf of, President Buren, Martin Van of the United States. Martin Van Buren, “Treaty Between: The United States of America and the First Christian and Orchard Parties of the Oneida Indians,” 1838.

^James E Togerson "Indians against Immigrants: Old Rivals, New Rules: A Brief Review and Comparison of Indian Law in the Contiguous United States, Alaska, and Canada." American Indian Law Review 14, no. 1 (1988), 58.

^ abJames E Togerson "Indians against Immigrants: Old Rivals, New Rules: A Brief Review and Comparison of Indian Law in the Contiguous United States, Alaska, and Canada." American Indian Law Review 14, no. 1 (1988), 57–103.

^James E Togerson "Indians against Immigrants: Old Rivals, New Rules: A Brief Review and Comparison of Indian Law in the Contiguous United States, Alaska, and Canada." American Indian Law Review 14, no. 1 (1988), 59.

^Dongoske, Kurt E. (1 January 1996). "The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act: A New Beginning, Not the End, for Osteological Analysis—A Hopi Perspective". American Indian Quarterly. 20 (2): 287–296. doi:10.2307/1185706. JSTOR1185706.

David J. Wishart and Oliver Froehling, "Land Ownership, Population and Jurisdiction: the Case of the 'Devils Lake Sioux Tribe v. North Dakota Public Service Commission'," American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 20(2): 33–58 (1996).

Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress and Supreme Court.

Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speakingPiscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia.

Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles.

Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing

ICCAs may or may not fit the IUCN definition of “protected area” but, when they do, they can fall into any IUCN protected area categories. The following three characteristics are used to identify an ICCA, A strong relationship exists between a people or local community, and a specific site. This relationship is often embedded in the people’s or community’s sense of identity and/or dependence for livelihood, a crucial feature of ICCAs is their diversity. While all ICCAs by definition embody precious bio-cultural diversity in a voluntary and self-organised way, the beliefs, practices. Moreover, as lively socio-cultural phenomena, ICCAs change in correspondence with history, some disappear, others survive in old or new forms, and some will emerge anew. In the struggle to cope with the scale and pace of socio-cultural change, over the last two centuries, the formal policies and practices that dominate conservation and development have largely ignored ICCAs or actively threaten them. Some relationships are respectful, but many are affected by misunderstandings, when they have no legal recognition within a country, they may not be recognised or respected by private entities and neighbouring communities.

In such cases, ICCAs are vulnerable through land and water being appropriated or “reallocated” for an alternative use, to non-members of the relevant communities, many ICCAs appear as natural, “unmanaged” and “unutilised” ecosystems — all the more coveted for resource extraction. ICCAs may suffer as a result of changing value systems, increased pressure on resources and other internal tensions In general. A few examples are reported below. e, for instance, a main driver of change that powerfully combines external and internal threats are new opportunities to access and use natural resources for profit-making activities. These may bring in funds for a variety of development needs but can be a door for corruption and mis-governance, ushering divisions, conflicts. As the disparity of power in modern societies increases exponentially, many peoples and local communities. A lack of political and legal support often hampers community efforts at maintaining ICCAs through traditional means, shortly after the Durban Congress, the Convention on Biological Diversity, at its COP7 meeting in Kuala Lumpur, approved the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas.

PoWPA supports a “new approach” to protected areas, calling for attention to governance types and quality, equity in conservation, and indigenous peoples’ rights. CBD COP8 and CBD COP9 reviewed the implementation of PoWPA and stressed the need to more forcefully in the element dedicated to Governance, Equity. This was reflected in the statement of recommendations that the May 2010 meeting of CBD SBSTTA in Nairobi submitted to COP10. At CBD COP10 in Nagoya, decision X/31 stressed again the role of indigenous and community conserved areas and invited Parties to recognise their organisations and contributions. COP10 agreed on a number of biodiversity targets for 2020. ”ICCAs clearly have a role to fulfil Aichi Target 11 as both protected areas and as “other effective area-based conservation measures”

New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6,1912 and it is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is fifth by area, the 36th-most populous, inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before European exploration, New Mexico was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 Imperial Spanishviceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of independent Mexico before becoming a U. S. territory and eventually a U. S. state as a result of the Mexican–American War. Among U. S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, the major Native American nations in the state are Navajo and Apache peoples. The demography and culture of the state are shaped by these strong Hispanic and Native American influences and its scarlet and gold colors are taken from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe. New Mexico, or Nuevo México in Spanish, is incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico.

The name simply stuck, even though the area had no connection to Mexico or the Mexica Indian tribes, formerly a part of New Spain, adopted its name centuries in 1821, after winning independence from Spanish rule. New Mexico was a part of the independent Mexican Empire and Federal Republic of Mexico for 27 years,1821 through 1848, New Mexico and Mexico developed as neighboring Spanish-speaking communities under Spanish rule, with relatively independent histories. The states total area is 121,412 square miles, the eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and 2.2 miles west of 103° W longitude with Texas. On the southern border, Texas makes up the eastern two-thirds, while the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora make up the western third, the western border with Arizona runs along the 109°03 W longitude. The southwestern corner of the state is known as the Bootheel, the 37° N latitude parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states New Mexico, Colorado and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the corner of New Mexico.

New Mexico, although a state, has very little water. Its surface water area is about 250 square miles, the New Mexican landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexicos arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, run roughly north-south along the east side of the Rio Grande in the rugged, pastoral north. The most important of New Mexicos rivers are the Rio Grande, Canadian, San Juan, the Rio Grande is tied for the fourth-longest river in the United States. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant money to the state, other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Gila Wilderness in the southwest of the state

Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power.

To the European settlers, their pronunciation sounded like Arissona, the area is still known as alĭ ṣonak in the Oodham language. Another possible origin is the Basque phrase haritz ona, as there were numerous Basque sheepherders in the area, There is a misconception that the states name originated from the Spanish term Árida Zona. See lists of counties, rivers, state parks, national parks, Arizona is in the Southwestern United States as one of the Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth largest state by area, ranked after New Mexico, of the states 113,998 square miles, approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, state trust land, Arizona is well known for its desert Basin and Range region in the states southern portions, which is rich in a landscape of xerophyte plants such as the cactus. This regions topography was shaped by volcanism, followed by the cooling-off. Its climate has hot summers and mild winters. The state is well known for its pine-covered north-central portion of the high country of the Colorado Plateau.

Like other states of the Southwest United States, Arizona has an abundance of mountains, despite the states aridity, 27% of Arizona is forest, a percentage comparable to modern-day France or Germany. The worlds largest stand of pine trees is in Arizona

The western portion of Alta California was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, real estate services and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA.

Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups were diverse in their organization with bands, villages. Trade and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years English explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manilagalleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565

The unorganized borough is the part of the U. S. state of Alaska not contained in any of its 19 organized boroughs. It encompasses nearly half of Alaskas area,323,440 square miles, a larger than any other U. S. state. As of the 2000 U. S. Census, it had a population of 81,803, unique among the United States, Alaska is not entirely subdivided into organized county equivalents. Many of the villages do have tribal governments, except within some incorporated cities, all government services in the Unorganized Borough, including law enforcement, are provided by the state or by the Tribal government. During the 1950s, when the push for the territory of Alaska to become a state was at its height, territory-wide, there were no more than a few dozen incorporated cities, and a small handful of service districts, broken into public utility districts and independent school districts. The service districts were authorized by the legislature in 1935 to allow unincorporated areas limited powers to provide services.

The United States Congress had forbidden the territory from establishing counties, the intent of the framers of the constitution was to provide for maximum local self-government with a minimum of local government units and tax-levying jurisdictions. The minutes of the constitutional convention indicate that counties were not used as a form of government for various reasons. Instead, Alaska adopted boroughs as a form of regional government and this regionalization was an attempt to avoid having a number of independent, limited-purpose governments with confusing boundaries and inefficient governmental operations. The entire state was defined as one vast unorganized borough with the Borough Act of 1961, Alaskas first organized borough, and the only one incorporated immediately after passage of the 1961 legislation, was the Bristol Bay Borough. As pressure would increase for other areas of the state to form boroughs and this legislation called for all election districts in the state over a certain threshold in population to incorporate as boroughs by January 1,1964.

Furthermore, Rural Education Attendance Areas were established by the Legislature in 1975 and this had the effect of creating regional divisions of the unorganized borough for the purpose of establishing rural school districts. 21 REAAs were originally created, many of those would eventually be absorbed into organized boroughs over time, the unorganized status of this vast area is not without controversy. Many point out that they would live in an organized borough if they desired that lifestyle. On the other hand, many Alaskans residing in organized boroughs feel that they unfairly subsidize residents of the Unorganized Borough, in 2003, the Alaska Division of Community Advocacy identified eight areas within the Unorganized Borough meeting standards for incorporation. Bills have been introduced in the Alaska Legislature to compel these areas to incorporate, though as of 2009, legislative Directive for Unorganized Borough Review Map of proposed model borough boundaries Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development

The Pit River Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of eleven bands of indigenous peoples of California. They primarily live along the Pit River in the northeast corner of California and their name is spelled as Pitt River in some historical records. The eleven bands are as follows, The eleven bands of the Pit River Tribe speak two related languages, nine speak Achumawi and two speak Atsugewi. They are classified in the group of the postulated Hokan superstock of languages. Big Bend Rancheria, Shasta County,40 acres, population,10 Likely Rancheria, Modoc County,1.86 acres, the tribe owns trust lands in Lake County, Lassen, Mendocino and Shasta Counties. Nowadays most speak English and Achumawi is endangered and Atsugewi is extinct The tribe conducts business from Burney and they were officially recognized as a tribe in 1976 and ratified their constitution in 1987. Each of the bands is represented in the tribal council. On August,1964, a Constitution was formally adopted by the Pit River Tribe, S. – but ultimately there was disharmony within the tribe and they rejected their monetary award.

Overview of Some Prehistoric and Historic Events and Periods, Approximately 200 AD, New technology, pre-1800 - Pit River bands of indigenous natives were living in abundance for thousands of years. For thousands of years, numerous villages were situated around and along Achoma and out onto the surrounding plains, mountains. The people utilized the natural resources of their land to the fullest, before the European-American immigration, the Native Americans of the Pit River region were thriving. The eleven bands in the region had similarities and differences in their language, Some downriver bands lived in simple pit houses in small familial villages along Achoma. Pit River artists and crafters apparently used both basalt and lots of obsidian from Glass Mountain to make tools and weapons, obsidian arrowheads and obsidian flakes from tool-making have been found all over the valley from the river banks to the hillsides and high in mountain hunting camp areas. 1827-1830s - European-American/Canadian fur trappers and explorers passing through the Pit River area 1830s - Many Pit River natives died from imported disease epidemics.

1848 - California became part of U. S. A. through Treaty of Hidalgo with Mexico, 1849- Gold Rush begins, bringing a new huge wave of migrants into California, many of whom were ruthless abusers and murderers of Indian people. 1851-53 - U. S. 1850s and 1860s, The movement of white emigrants into Pit River territory caused more and more Pit River displacement, the emigrants often had no respect for the delicate balance of nature, grazing their cattle and horses in prime hunting and gathering areas. A steady flow of emigrants arrived determined to occupy Pit River land, 1850s - European-American immigrant expansion interest and activity in Pit River region began. USA government, military forces, and settlers invaded, displaced, the European invaders ruthlessly and tragically destroyed most of the Pit River natives, and their way of life

A ghost town is an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one that contains substantial visible remains. Some ghost towns, especially those that preserve period-specific architecture, have become tourist attractions, writing about, and photographing ghost towns is a minor industry. The town of Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Montserrat is a ghost town that is the de jure capital of Montserrat and it was rendered uninhabitable by volcanic ash from an eruption. The definition of a ghost town varies between individuals, and between cultures, lindsey Baker, author of Ghost Towns of Texas, defines a ghost town as a town for which the reason for being no longer exists. Some believe that any settlement with visible tangible remains should not be called a ghost town, others say, whether or not the settlement must be completely deserted, or may contain a small population, is a matter for debate. Generally, the term is used in a sense, encompassing any. The American author Lambert Florins preferred definition of a ghost town was simply a shadowy semblance of a former self, a town can be abandoned when it is part of an exclusion zone due to natural or man-made causes.

Ghost towns may result when the activity or resource that created a boomtown is depleted or the resource economy undergoes a bust. Boomtowns can often decrease in size as fast as they initially grew, all or nearly the entire population can desert the town, resulting in a ghost town. The dismantling of a boomtown can often occur on a planned basis, modular buildings can be used to facilitate the process. A gold rush would often bring intensive but short-lived economic activity to a remote village, in other cases, the reason for abandonment can arise from a towns intended economic function shifting to another, nearby place. This happened to Collingwood, Queensland in Outback Australia when nearby Winton outperformed Collingwood as a centre for the livestock-raising industry. The railway reached Winton in 1899, linking it with the rest of Queensland, the Middle East has many ghost towns that were created when the shifting of politics or the fall of empires caused capital cities to be socially or economically unviable, such as Ctesiphon.

The rise of condominium investment caused for real estate bubbles leads to a ghost town, as real estate prices rise, such examples include China and Canada, where housing is often used as an investment rather than for habitation. Railroads and roads bypassing or no longer reaching a town can create a ghost town. This was the case in many of the ghost towns along Ontarios historic Opeongo Line, some ghost towns were founded along railways where steam trains would stop at periodic intervals to take on water. Amboy, California was part of one series of villages along the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad across the Mojave Desert. River re-routing is another factor, one example being the towns along the Aral Sea, Ghost towns may be created when land is expropriated by a government and residents are required to relocate

The United States of America, commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's …

The Powhatan people are an Indigenous group traditionally from Virginia. In some instances, The Powhatan may refer to one of the leaders of the people. This is most commonly the case in historical writings by the English. The Powhatans have also been …

The Navajo Nation is a Native American territory covering about 17,544,500 acres, occupying portions of northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico in the United States. This is the largest land area retained by a …

Aerial view looking south across Arizona's Painted Desert with part of the Navajo Reservation in the foreground

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth …

Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U.S. on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, and 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million …

Washington, D.C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C. is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of …

Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government. They differ from U.S. states and Native American tribes, which have limited sovereignty. The territories are classified by incorporation and whether they have an "organized" government …

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the Pre-Columbian peoples of North, Central and South America and their descendants. — Although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in the Amazon basin, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture …

Native Americans, also known as American Indians, Indigenous Americans and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the United States, except Hawaii. There are over 500 federally recognized tribes within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations. The term "American …

Yamacraw Creek Native Americans meet with the Trustee of the colony of Georgia in England, July 1734. The painting shows a Native American boy (in a blue coat) and woman (in a red dress) in European clothing.

In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that is similar to a national park, but can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the President of the United States. — National monuments can be managed by one of several federal …

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not governed by a local municipal corporation; similarly an unincorporated community is a settlement that is not governed by its own local municipal corporation, but rather is administered as part of larger administrative divisions, such as …

A ghost town is an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one that contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, government …

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the …

Ely S. Parker was the first Native American to be appointed as Commissioner of Indian affairs (1869–1871).

Indigenous peoples, also known as first peoples, aboriginal peoples or native peoples, are ethnic groups who are the original settlers of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently. Groups are usually described as indigenous when they …

Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States. The U.S. federal government recognizes tribal nations as "domestic dependent nations" and has established a number of laws attempting …

In the Southwestern United States, the term Pueblo refers to communities of Native Americans, both in the present and in ancient times. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local …

Indigenous and community conserved areas, or indigenous peoples’ and community conserved territories and areas, are spaces de facto governed by indigenous peoples or local communities with evidently positive outcomes for the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. In ICCAs, the …

A village association runs an ICCA-based sustainable use enterprise in Costa Rica.

Discussing ICCA governance issues in Coron Island — one of the first ICCAs to be fully recognized as Ancestral Domain (Terrestrial and marine area), under the collective governance of its indigenous peoples (Tagbanwa) in Palawan (The Philippines)

A borough in some U.S. states is a unit of local government or other administrative division below the level of the state. The term is currently used in six states: — A type of municipality: Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — A subdivision of a consolidated city …

The protected areas of the United States are managed by an array of different federal, state, tribal and local level authorities and receive widely varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness, while others are operated with acceptable commercial exploitation. As of 2015, the …

An autonomous administrative division is a subdivision or dependent territory of a country that has a degree of self-governance, or autonomy, from an external authority. Typically, it is either geographically …

The Pit River Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of eleven bands of indigenous peoples of California. They primarily live along the Pit River in the northeast corner of California. Their name also is spelled as "Pitt River" in some historical records. — Bands — The eleven bands are as …

Istet Woiche, tribal historian of the Madesi tribe, one of the bands of the Pit River Tribe

Political divisions of the United States are the various recognized governing entities that together form the United States — states, territories, the District of Columbia, and Indian reservations. — The primary first-level political division of the …

The Unorganized Borough is made up of the portions of the U.S. state of Alaska which are not contained in any of its 19 organized boroughs. It encompasses nearly half of Alaska's land area, 323,440 square miles, an area larger than any other U.S. state, and larger than the land area …

A Chapter house is an administrative, communal meeting place on the territory of the Navajo Nation where residents have a forum to express their opinions to their Navajo Nation Council Delegate or to decide on matters concerning their chapter. As of January …

State governments of the United States are institutional units in the United States exercising some of the functions of government at a level below that of the federal government. Each state's government holds fiscal, legislative and executive authority over a defined geographic territory. The …

Walter Bruce Willis is an American actor, producer, and singer. Born to a German mother and American father in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, he moved to the United States with his family in 1957. His career began on the Off-Broadway stage in the 1970s. He later achieved fame with …

Willis in July 2018

Willis upon receiving an Emmy Award in 1987 for Best Actor in Moonlighting

Harrison Ford is an American actor. He gained worldwide fame for his starring roles as Han Solo in the Star Wars film series and as the title character of Indiana Jones movie series. Five of his movies are within the 30 top-grossing movies of all time at the US box office (when …

The Thirty Years' War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. One of the most destructive conflicts in human history, it resulted in eight million fatalities not only from military engagements but also from violence, famine, and plague. Casualties were overwhelmingly and …

A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, together with amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond. The word ruby comes from ruber …

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,084 inhabitants in 2013, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and …

The Battle of Poitiers was a major English victory in the Edwardian phase of the Hundred Years' War. It was fought on 19 September 1356 in Nouaillé, near the city of Poitiers in Aquitaine, western France. Edward, the Black Prince, led an army of English, Welsh, Breton and Gascon troops, many of …

The Battle of Lake Trasimene was a major battle in the Second Punic War. The Carthaginians under Hannibal defeated the Romans under the consul Gaius Flaminius. Hannibal's victory over the Roman army at Lake Trasimene remains, in terms of the number of men involved, the largest …